Warm Anchor
by Mem0ry
Summary: Standard Modern AU AOT fic, Mikasa's parents die, she moves in with Jaegers, few things are different from canon. Zeke's mother is Carla and other things like that. Eremika is best to ship.


**Pretty much your standard Modern AU Eremika fic with a few changes. Zeke is Carla's son as well in this one because it works better for the story, no Eren saving Mikasa, prob won't have a timsekip for quite a while. Stuff like that, anyway hope ya enjoy.**

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Eren spat the mud from his lips as his friends laughed at him. He scowled at the four as he stood, continuing to scowl all the while as the blonde above him laughed in childish humor. Eren could also hear the girls in their group of friends laughing from the patio. His scowl soon became an embarrassing blush as he grew a slight pink blush on his face. Him, Reiner, Jean, Berholdt, Armin, and Connie were playing in his family's backyard, it wasn't any particular game it was simply wrestling in the mud.

His mother had said that if he made any friends he would bring them over after school, his first day of kindergarten as a matter of fact. Despite them all being so young, Reiner and Bert were insanely strong and insanely tall for their age in their own regards. Bert was already four foot four, and while he was tall Reiner was strong. He didn't have bulging muscles or anything but the boy simply knew how to use his weight to his advantage. Armin was paired against Jean, Eren against Reiner, and Connie against Bert at the moment.

Today it had been raining, hence the mud and the minds of six-year-olds couldn't resist a mud fight so they had done this while the girls sat on the porch. Said girls were few in number, only numbering two with it being Sasha Blouse and Christa Lenz, the only two girls in their class who didn't think boys were weird and nasty. Sasha had been given some cheese and crackers by Eren's mother and Christa was sipping some juice as the two watched the boys do things boys did.

"C'mon Eren, you can do better!" exclaimed the boy as Eren stood and picked mud out of his hair while glaring at the stronger boy. The goal of the game was to get the other person down for five seconds before the person holding down the other was declared victor. Armin was small for their age and Jean was slightly above average so he had gotten the somewhat shy blonde down fairly quickly. Bert had a massive height advantage against Connie but that was not a good thing in this game and Connie simply wrapped his arms around the boy's midsection and clung onto him as they fell.

Eren and Reiner were the most athletic of the group, hence them being paired together. Jean and Armin because they had the same hair color, their six-year-old minds thought that was logical. Connie and Bert because they were the only two remaining due to the girls staying back. Now, the victor would go against another victor and the losers of those victors would go against each other and whoever won that, would fight the winner of the third match while the loser of the third match fought the loser who lost for the second time.

Then, the winner of the two initial winners (in this came Reiner and Connie) would go against the other pairing and then they would come to a final! With Sasha and Christa being the people starting the matches of course. Currently, Connie was against Reiner, Eren and Bert, while Jean and Armin were on the side. Reiner was able to stop Connie before the grey-haired boy could even touch him and held him down with two hands on his back making Connie's face become well acquainted with the mud.

"Winner Reiner!" yelled Christa as Sasha tried to do the same but spit out some chip instead. Christa giggled behind her hand as Sasha turned sheepish at doing the foolish mistake. "Eren, Burt you two ready?" asked the small girl as the two guys nodded. "Begin!" the blonde yelled as she swung down her arm in a dramatic motion.

Bert was smart and learned from his mistakes the previous match and held out a hand, stopping Eren from coming close as he held the boy by his forehead. Eren growled at being handles so easily, Reiner chuckled a little ways away and Eren grabbed the forearm, shoving it away as he did the same maneuver Connie did and beat the boy. Now, it was Eren against Jean as the other three stood to the side. "Going down Jaeger," spoke Jean with a haughty smirk which Eren returned with a cocky smirk.

"Same for you, Horsy." Jean's face scrunched up in rage, coincidentally making him look even more like a horse as everyone laughed at the remark on Jean's literally long face. Christa was too busy giggling at Jean to start the match and Sasha was holding her sides as she laid on the deck of the patio. Jean just got mad and dived for the younger boy in an attempt to get him and make him pay for the remark. Eren actually charged back and soon both boys were locked at the hands.

"Look, they're holding hands guys!" commented Reiner as Jean and Eren detached their hands and then Eren dove for Jean in an attempt to get him down. Luckily for him, Jean was glaring at Reiner so he didn't see it coming and Eren knocked him over, smothering him against the mud. Jean reached up a hand and grabbed Eren's face as Reiner counted.

"Three!" Jean started pushing against Eren as the green-eyed boy did the same.

"Four!" Jean growled and tried to push the boy off but Eren literally fell on him to stop him.

"Five, You're done Jean!" yelled Christina as Eren sat on Jean with his hands above his head as if he'd won the lottery. Jean shoved off the boy as he stood, scowling as he walked to the side and joined the rest, leaving Eren and Reiner. Everyone was in shorts so their pants didn't get dirty and the only thing of Reiner that had mud was his ankles and feet.

"Reiner versus Eren!" yelled Christina as Reiner and Eren stood across from each other, Eren tired and muddy, Reiner clean and refreshed. "Fighters ready?" asked the blonde as the two nodded. "You guys can do anything, it's last round. Begin!" she squealed a little at the end in excitement as this time, Reiner rushed Eren and met him head-on. Reiner tried to grab the smaller boy but Eren grabbed the hand and tugged on it, sending both tumbling back with Reiner landing next to Eren in the mud.

Eren smirked in happiness as he jumped on Reiner before he could react and held his hands, ensuring he could do nothing. Before the count could begin Reiner suddenly rolled to the side, throwing Eren off him and restraining the boy's leg as he sat on Eren, mud parting to reveal white teeth smiling at him. Eren tried to shove Reiner off but nothing seemed to work.

"Four!" yelled Christa as she held four fingers and Eren suddenly got desperate. He leaned forward and bit Reiner's arm, making the boy yelp in surprise and pain as Eren dived the boy from the side, straddling his side and arm as he sat on Reiner's forearm.

"One, Two, Three," Reiner continued to struggle but Eren held on strong.

"Four!" Reiner tried to roll around Eren shoved his head into the mud, stopping his actions as he tried to remove the hand.

"FIVE, EREN DID IT!" the girl yelled as she jumped and did a little dance as all the boys jumped forward and dogpiled the two and soon it became a mess of limbs and yells and laughs, prompting Carla to pop out of the house. "Hi Mrs. Jaeger!" the little blonde girl beamed at her as Eren's head suddenly popped up.

"Hey, mom! Could you take a picture, I won!" he yelled as everyone seemed to stop their random movements.

"What did you win?" asked the woman as Eren blinked.

"The game?" the boy asked her as if it was obvious. The woman shook her head and fished out her phone. Reiner suddenly grinned and ran over, grabbing Christa and Sasha as the girls shrieked as they became embraced by the big strong blonde and were brought into the mess. They threw their shoes over at the grass just as they got dragged into the center. Eren stood in the middle, Reiner, and Jean on his side with the girls flanking them and the other boys flanking them.

"Mud Wars!" spoke the woman as the children smiled.

"MUD WARS!" the group shouted as she snapped the picture. Despite the mud, the two girls were even smiling at the fun of the day.

"Alright now that you've won your game you are all being cleaned, girls go take showers I'll be right in and get you some clothes." the woman said as she went around the side of the house and got the hose. "Boys, take off shirts and pants and leave underwear." they did as asked and were all soon being sprayed by the hose and Carla made sure to shoot them a lot in the head to get it out of their hair. Half an hour later the boys were standing inside the house, rubbing towels through their hair as the girls sat on the couch, all of them having to wear Eren's clothes with their own in bags due to them being muddy.

Carla was in the kitchen as the children did children things in the large den. Due to Eren's father being the head of the hospital in Stohess, his family lived very well. They had a two story house with six bedrooms, a massive garage, three bathrooms, a massive backyard, and a massive pool. Making it a child's ultimate playground.

"Who woulda thought he'd win," said Jean sourly as the other's chuckled while Eren glared at him.

"Couldn't've done it without kicking your butt Horse!" the boy shot back as Reiner held back the other blonde, chuckling all the while.

"So, when's everyone's birthday?" asked Armin as everyone shot him a weird look. He blushed slightly under the attention. "W-Well if we're all going to be friends we'll be there for each other's birthdays won't we?" asked the blonde as he looked down while everyone nodded in agreement.

"Mine's July Ninth." Christa started, not knowing Carla was overhearing and writing this all down on a calendar on the fridge.

"February twenty-second," spoke Reiner as he sat down on the couch drinking a water bottle he had gotten from Carla.

"Mine's February seventh," said Jean before returning to his pouting for his nickname.

"March tenth," Bert said as he continued drying his hair, trying to get everything out.

"June eleventh," said Eren around a piece of cheese.

"My own is January fifth," said Armin before looking at the last two people who were stuffing their face with crackers. He nudged Connie who bumped into Sasha slightly and they both looked confused. "When's your birthday?" asked the boy as Connie seemed to think for a second.

"Mine's Thankshgiving," said Connie, trying to talk around all the cracker in his mouth but failed slightly.

"Mine is a week from today I think," said Sasha as she poked her chin.

"How're we supposed to remember all of those?" asked Eren as everyone looked to Armin who rubbed the back of his head while chuckling shyly. Thankfully for the boy, Carla came out as she pulled Eren's ear causing the boy to hiss in pain.

"Don't be rude to Armin," she chided as she turned her small frown into a smile. "I wrote down the dates on the calendar and I can inform your parents for you guys," she said with a kind smile as they all gave their thanks. "Now then, when are your parents coming for you kids?" asked the woman as they shrugged. "Can you call them and ask?" she asked as they all took out phones and did so.

"Eren your father will be home a bit late tonight," she told the boy who seemed slightly sad but nodded nonetheless, she understood his sadness she felt it too after all. Grisha had sent her a text he would be late, didn't say why or anything just that he'd be late. He was chief of the hospital so he didn't need to do something too often, so it must be very important for him to be late.

"My mom's on her way, she says she'll get me and Burt." the boy said as Burt nodded in agreement due to his mother saying the same Reiner's said as they chatted with each other.

"My dad said my caretaker will be here in a little bit," said Christa as Eren almost forgot, she was richer than him. If Eren was rich, then Christa was filthy rich. Her mom is a big-time CEO and her father is an author of a famous book series.

"My Grandpa is on the way," said Armin as nobody really asked why it was his grandpa, they either didn't care or didn't notice. The rest of the children then replied in fairly the same fashion, my mother is coming or my dad is coming or something of that fashion.

Soon, children started trickling out, parents coming and picking them up as they said later and that they'd see them tomorrow.

Now it was just Eren who sat at the kitchen counter while his mother was on the other side with her phone in her hands. She frowned down at the screen, she knew he'd be late but didn't think it'd be this late it was already seven and Grisha gets off at five and she with Eren had waited for him to come to eat but it was getting close to Eren's bedtime she'd have to feed him now. "Well, it's a bit late to cook something. Do you want to just order a pizza?" she asked as Eren's eyes seemed to gleam, the best way to a child was through his stomach.

"Shower first, you're still dirty," she said as the boy dashed off to fulfill the request while she phoned in the pizza.

Eren doesn't know how long he was in that shower but when he came out with a fresh pair of clothes, his father was home, the pizza was on the counter, and there was a black-haired girl standing next to his father. Despite the weirdness of the situation, his stomach won over his curiosity and he took a slice with him to the living room to see what was happening. He was already almost at the crust by the time he got there and his father seemed tired, his mother seemed sad, and the girl seemed... like nothing?

"Eren!" his father exclaimed as he put a soft hand on top of the girl's head. "Eren this is Mikasa Ackerman, she's going to be staying with us from now on." said the man as he turned to the girl at his side. "Mikasa this is one of my sons, Eren." said the man as Eren raised a hand for her to shake but she just kept staring forward, as if nothing mattered. Grisha tightened his lips but said nothing, curious to see how this would play out.

Eren walked forward and got right in front of her before waving a hand back and forth in front of her face. "I think she's sleeping dad," he said as he kept waving the hand but got no reaction.

"I can assure you she is not asleep Eren." said the man as Eren frowned before wagging the pizza under her nose, noticing her eyes turn to the food as she sniffed it.

"AHA! No one can ignore pizza," he said as he quickly dashed off before returning with another piece. He held it in front of her but she didn't move to take it. He frowned and stuck his crust in his mouth, most of it sticking out making him look rather stupid. He took the girl's surprisingly cold hand and held it out and put the pizza on top of it. He backed up as he realized she probably could do it on her own. He saw her nose twitch and grinned but that turned into scandalisation and anger as the food fell onto the floor and she didn't even act other than return her hand to her side.

"You- Y-" he couldn't even form words as he stared down at the pizza on the floor, as if it were the ultimate crime. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!" he exploded as he glared at her, his vision snapping to the pizza on the floor. He took the crust out of his mouth and wagged it at her. "Pizza's is the holy grail of all food and you throw it on the floor!" he yelled as if pained as he pointed to it. "Eat it!" he yelled as she didn't even bat an eye.

Eren gained a tick mark over his eyebrow as he picked up the pizza from the wood floor, grateful it landed on the crust, not the pepperoni and held it in one hand while he poked her cheek. "Open up." he told her but she did not do so. Grisha probably would have stopped him if he didn't know she hadn't eaten in at least ten hours. Eren frowned when she didn't open her mouth. "Open your mouth, eat the pizza, everyone's happy!" he exclaimed but she didn't do it.

He growled in frustration as he looked at his parents as if expecting them to be angry at her dropping the food but they were not. "Can you believe her! She tried to waste pizza!" he yelled but they simply held sad smiles and understanding eyes. He shook his head at them and turned back to the frozen girl. "This is the ultimate crime! You must pay!" he yelled as he pointed a finger to the sky and grabbed her chin, trying to pry open her mouth which happened due to her not caring.

He put the tip of the pizza in her mouth and had to close her mouth back on top of it, effectively biting off a portion of it as he removed the slice from her lips, noticing how she didn't chew or swallow. "Don't be a pain, you have to swallow it so just go ahead and do it." he said and she surprisingly did as told and swallowed the bite of pizza. "Good! Now, eat some more yourself." he held out the pizza for her to take and she slowly did so and started nibbling the pizza small bit by small bite.

"The nurses couldn't get her to eat or drink no matter what they tried," Grisha whispered to his wife so the two children wouldn't hear. "Why doesn't Carla here, give Mikasa a tour of the house and I'll talk with Eren for a moment." the man suggested as Eren looked over. He had been patting Mikasa's head as if she was a dog who did a good thing. Eren shrugged as Carla walked over and took Mikasa with her, the pizza still in hand as the two walked off.

"Eren," his father started as he turned to the man with a curious expression. "You remember how your brother became a psychologist and moved away right?" he asked and Eren nodded slowly, not getting where this was going. "Well, he is going to be moving back in with us, so he can watch Mikasa." the man said as Eren knit his eyebrows together.

"Why?" asked the boy as his father's face turned grim.

"Her parents were murdered, right in front of her and she is currently in a state of shock, grief, and pain." Eren's eyes widened as he snapped his head around to see if she was still there but she was already gone. He turned his attention back to his father when the man put a hand on his shoulder. "Can you try and be kind with her? She is still traumatized and needs to slowly come out of her shell, can I trust you to help her?" asked the man as Eren nodded rapidly.

"Good," the man said as he rubbed Eren's brown locks. "Zeke will be here in two days, why don't you get some more dinner and go to bed, you've got school in the morning after all." said the man as Eren hurriedly dashed off, grabbed two slices of pizza before dashing to his room to eat them and sleep.

It had been an hour or two since he'd 'gone to bed' and he still couldn't sleep. The fact Mikasa's parents had just been killed still weighed on his mind. He didn't know her, or her parents but the sadness of the situation made him stay awake. It was in the middle of these thoughts when he heard it, a light sob. He blinked and strained his ears to hear it better but didn't for a little while and he almost forgot about it when he heard it again, but this time followed by more.

It sounded like someone crying but no one slept in the room next to his, his parents were at the other end of the hall... Mikasa could be though. That made him sad, knowing she was crying about her dead parents with no one to comfort her. He suddenly ripped off the covers and got out of bed before walking to his door and opening it, revealing pure darkness in the hallway. He put a hand on the wall to stabilize himself as he walked the short few feet to the next door and suddenly came to the door frame.

He slid his hand down and twisted the knob, opening the door and he could now hear her string of sobs much clearer. It sounded so painful and saddening that it made Eren frown in worry for the stranger his parents had taken in. Her back was to him, crying and sobbing and she seemed so small even from so far away. She had curled into herself making the actual amount of space she took up on the bed minimal.

He softly padded over and soon was right at the side of the bed, she still hadn't noticed him as she cried. "Mikasa?" he asked softly but he didn't gain a response, she just kept crying. He frowned slightly as he peered over and saw that she was actually asleep and seemed to be crying in her sleep. He padded around to the other side of the massive bed and soon was crouched right in front of her face, curious what to do. She was shaking and crying and was obviously having a nightmare.

He didn't know what to really do so he simply grabbed her hand, hoping that did something. It did, the cries soon faded into whimpers and the whimpers into moans and the moans into silence. Eren smiled, glad he could help her some way and now he could just let the sad girl enjoy her sleep. He removed his hand from her own so he could go get some sleep himself but before he could even stand the girl reached out, gripping his hand in a vice grip as she whined in her sleep.

"Mikasa?" he asked lightly in confusion as the girl murmured before reaching forward to try and grab more of the warmth that was Eren's hand and got Eren himself in her clutches which she took gladly and soon she was hugging his torso against her face, probably imagining he was her mother or father. Eren didn't really know what to do but he was sure he didn't want to move, she was smiling. He had a brother psychologist and a father head doctor, he knew that most who got traumatized didn't smile ever so he let her have the moment.

A yawn crawled it's way out of Eren's mouth and his lack of sleep previously was biting him in the butt and now he was very tired. He yawned again and struggled to keep his eyes open, he then realized that Mikasa was only using a small portion of the bed. He climbed over her and was soon in the position she was in previously, back to the door and facing the wall but this time there was a girl in his chest, clinging to his body with her arms surrounding his midsection and hugging him as if he was her last chance to live.

Eren let another yawn creep out as he wrapped his own arms around the girls back, "Night, Mikasa." he whispered despite knowing she wouldn't hear him. He fell into a blissful sleep, a thing shared by the girl in his arms.

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Eren blinked away the sun, eyebrows knitting together in confusion, his room didn't have a window... His eyes suddenly shot open when he felt movement on him and woke up on his back, Mikasa laying curled into his side with a blissful smile on her face despite yesterday's accident. He was initially very freaked out but the memories of last night hit him and he suddenly smiled, glad that he could have given Mikasa a night of decent sleep.

He turned back over and hugged the little ball of warmth she had curled into as he watched her. He may have to go to school, but he felt taking care of Mikasa was more important. She seemed so peaceful, a bright contrast to what she was yesterday. It was probably weird, being so close to a stranger but she had seemed so sad last night, he couldn't just do nothing...

She woke up a few moments later and she blinked up at him making him blink back. "You were crying last night, I came in and calmed you down. But you pulled me into the bed and I fell asleep?" he finished off with a question because he didn't know how she was going to react to finding out a stranger slept in her bed.

She actually smiled at him, it wasn't big it was just a small smile but it made him smile back. She surprised him by snuggling back into his embrace, not wanting to get up apparently. "Thank you, Eren," she whispered to him as Eren's eyes widened, he'd never heard her voice before... it was soft and small, kinda like her. He put his chin on top of her head as the both simply laid there for a little while.

"You're welcome, Mikasa," he whispered and not ten seconds later the door was opened by Carla Jaeger who had her back to them.

"I brought you breakfast-" she saw a back that did not belong to Mikasa, a head of brown hair that did not belong to Mikasa, and two pale arms looped around the back that did belong to Mikasa. The woman blinked at the scene of her son and Mikasa in the same bed. Eren let out a decisively loud snore at that moment, drawing a muffled giggle from Mikasa and a scowl from Carla. "I know you don't snore Eren!" she sounded annoyed, very annoyed.

"How'd you know I didn't start snoring last night?" Eren kept the topic away from the elephant in the room as he turned around in Mikasa's grip and stared up at Carla with a questioning look in his eyes. Carla was not one to fall for such things and gestured with a hand to the bed.

"Why are you in Mikasa's bed!" she sounded scandalized, she knew they hadn't done anything inappropriate but it didn't change the fact Eren crawled into a STRANGERS bed and slept with them. Eren actually turned rather serious for a six-year-old. Grisha was in the doorway after hearing what his wife had said and was curious about what the boy said to combat THE Carla Jaeger.

"She was crying last night and I held her hand. She stopped crying and pulled me into the bed in her sleep, I fell asleep and here we are now!" the boy huffed at the woman as Carla's expression softened and Grisha actually became interested at that moment.

"Is this true Mikasa?" asked the woman as the girl nodded into Eren's back, not that Carla could see. Eren reached up and poked her hand, prompting the girl to tighten her hold around the boy.

"Yes." said a small voice from behind Eren and Grisha's eyes became as wide as saucers as he turned to Carla, his eyes turning back to normal as he did so.

"Leave the breakfast here, I'm sure Eren will make her eat it, Right Eren?" he asked a little louder and his son nodded with a smile his father mirrored before grabbing his wife by the shoulders and guiding her out of the room so he could explain to her what this meant.

"Alright Mikasa, let's get you some food," he said and tried to get up but she wouldn't let go, not wanting him to leave her. "Mikasa?" he questions in curiosity. By now he was sitting on the edge of the bed and Mikasa was at his side, hugging him tightly. He looked down at her to see tears forming in her eyes and he became panicked, thinking he did something wrong. "Ah! I'm sorry Mikasa... what'd I do?" he questioned as he stared down at the raven-haired girl.

"Stay." she murmured and Eren tilted his head in questioning.

"I'm staying, just getting you some breakfast," he replied as he pointed to the tray of food not two feet from them. The girl simply tightened her hold on him and Eren frowned, she and him both needed to eat. He came up with an idea as he pried off one of her hands and put it in his own and held the dark-haired girl's hand and rubbed soothing circles on it with his thumb. "I'm just getting some food, you can even hold my hand," he whispered as he stood, Mikasa, staying on the bed clutching his hand for dear life.

He was only able to safely grab some toast and bacon with the one hand before he went back to the bed and was instantly wrapped up in her hug, she was still laying down causing him to frown slightly. "Mikasa, sit up you can't eat while laying down it's not good for you, that's what mom says anyway," he mumbled as the girl inched her way up, keeping herself tied to Eren not letting go for a second.

Meanwhile, outside Grisha and Carla were on the phone with Zeke. "Mikasa is not letting go of him, and she is talking a bit." Grisha finished the summary of what had happened and heard the man sigh on the other end of the line.

"That's both a good and bad thing Pop. On the one hand, that means she'll be a lot easier to talk to in the presence of Eren and she'll get over her trauma rather quickly. Patients who ever find an anchor usually end up fairly happy and back to normal in a few months. On the flip side though, they gain an insane emotional, and physical attachment to their anchor. Most times that's not too bad since it is usually not a person. In this case, though, you're going to have to keep Eren with her at basically all times." the man concluded as Carla narrowed her eyes.

"Are you saying-" his mother started dangerously before he interrupted her.

"What I'm saying ma, is that they are going to have do close to everything together or you risk her mentality shattering. She will have to basically be able to see him at all times for the next few months, she's probably not wanting to let go of him right now. The way the whole anchor thing works is that the person will find something that calms them, and momentarily makes them forget the sorrow. Eren made her forget and now she doesn't want to remember so she is going to keep him close to not remember the bad shit.

"If you think I'm kidding about the contact and sight at all times I'm not. If one of them is going to the bathroom, the other has to be in there, to the mall they go with 'em, to school they have to have the same classes, it's going to be that way for months and months, maybe a year. I'll be there tomorrow so I can't confirm the anchor thing but it's a pretty good chance Eren became her anchor because of last night. I would suggest moving the two kids into one room 'cuz they're gonna be white on rice for a while. I gotta go, see ya tomorrow Mom, Pop." the line disconnected as both parents took the moment to absorb what their son had just told them.

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 **If you're confused why Ymir and Marco aren't in yet, they come later. Anyway, yeah hope you enjoyed. Next chapter in the works.**


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